International ministry turns homeward after Ike

GALVESTON — Spirit, Mercy, Hope, and Integrity might sound like good topics for a series of Sunday sermons. But these are not only sterling qualities — they are also unique motor vessels engaged in a special ministry.

Specifically, they are ocean-going crafts of compassion run by a Christian group known as Friend Ships. One-half of their fleet, previously used primarily to address needs in the Third World, has docked at Berth 34 in Galveston to help with hurricane recovery.

There, the M.V. Hope and M.V. Mercy have tied up, exchanging their high-seas travels to provide bunkhouses for relief workers, warehouses for needed supplies and offices for the ministry’s staff.

Even if you never actually see the ships themselves, you will notice their crews and volunteers as you drive down Galveston’s main drag. They have joined with other missions to serve hot meals at the “From Jesus with Love Café,” an impromptu collection of tented canopies and white plastic furniture that occupies the corner of 51st Street and Broadway.

Almost 2,000 meals are being provided daily beginning at 3 p.m., and running as late as necessary.

According to Sondra Tipton, president of Friend Ships, those coming for meals each night are still on the increase even though grocery stores and other businesses have reopened across the island.

The maritime ministry idea isn’t completely new: the Apostle Paul once used a Roman vessel to transport himself, the gospel message and relief donations for a famished Christian church. He docked at Jerusalem back in the first century A.D. with a collection taken up from churches across Asia Minor.

Currently, Friend Ships runs the only U.S.-flagged fleet of mercy ships. Founder Don Tipton was sitting in the cool and humid semidarkness at one of the café tables one evening as the fetching aroma of fried chicken drew in a continual string of islanders.

He explained how the marine ministry began.

“I got saved,” he said, quite simply. “Then I read the Word (Bible) and started doing what it said. Now, I have hundreds of helpers”

His wife, Sondra, provided a somewhat more detailed history for Our Faith.

“We started in Los Angeles with one 5,000-ton freighter, the Spirit, but it was difficult because most of our missions were over in this part of the world,” she said. “To Africa, Central America or the Caribbean. So we relocated to Galveston as a home base. The port here hosted us for about 10 years — all at no charge.”

The ministry addressed needs around the world from Berth 41.

In 2007, the organization ministered in Mexico, Guinea, Cuba, Guatemala, Israel and Peru, as well as stateside in Los Angeles. But Ike called them home to Galveston, where the two vessels plan to remain for the foreseeable future.

“Galveston is still home to our ministry,” he said. The actual headquarters for the four ships, though, has changed to Port Mercy, a former Halliburton facility located near Lake Charles, La.

“Our ships are seven stories high and larger than a football field. Plus, we have several 180-foot fishing vessels with over 100 bunks each.”

“We represented Galveston to the world,” he said.

His wife emphasized that the port’s generosity had been fundamental to their mission.

“We’d really like to give a thank you to the port because they have just been super, and it allows us to minister,” she said.

Friend Ships’ work extends beyond the café as volunteers arrive from across the United States to assist Galvestonians in addressing both physical and spiritual challenges.

“The Billy Graham Chaplain’s organization is one of many working with us. They tell us that it has been very productive to work with people at the café,” she said. “We’re also going out to homes to help the elderly and others as well as distributing some tarps and supplies.”

The couple did not ask for funds or supplies for the effort, but they did encourage local churches to send ministers and workers to participate with both the café and other island activities.

“We really welcome them to come and work and pray with us,” she said. “Nothing makes us happier than having local churches come to help in spite of their problems they have suffered themselves.”

These days, most parachurch ministries follow the business world by creating a paragraph-long, tightly worded mission statement that details their goals and objectives in language that is either quasi-legal or, occasionally, hyperbolic.

But founder Tipton is old school when it comes to such things.

His take on what God has appointed Friend Ships to accomplish is shorter and simpler than most any of those on record: “Go do all you know how to do. Period.”

+++ More info

To request help or volunteer, call Friend Ships at 337-263-7136.

On the Web

www.friendships.org/hurricane.html